Markets Open Lower; ADM To Acquire Wild Flavors For $3 Billion

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.33 percent to 17,011.99 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.27 percent to 4,473.91. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.30 percent to 1,979.44.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

In trading on Monday, utilities shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.05 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Companhia Paranaense de Energia ELP, up 2.7 percent, and CPFL Energia SA CPL, up 1.6 percent.

Energy shares fell around 0.66 percent in Monday’s trading. Top losers in the sector included Goodrich Petroleum GDP, down 5.4 percent, and Walter Energy WLT, off 4.5 percent.

Top Headline

Archer Daniels Midland ADM announced its plans to buy food flavoring company Wild Flavors for 2.2 billion euros ($3 billion) in cash.

The company will also assume around 0.1 billion euros in net debt. The deal is projected to complete by the end of the year.

Equities Trading UP

BioDelivery Sciences International BDSI shares shot up 14.76 percent to $13.76 on positive top-line Phase III results.

Shares of Kandi Technolgies Group KNDI got a boost, shooting up 9.46 percent to $15.33 after the company announced a subsidy of $31.8 million for sales of more than 3,000 electric vehicles between June and December of 2013.

Silicon Motion Technology SIMO shares were also up, gaining 3.99 percent to $22.35 after the company raised its Q2 revenue forecast. The Company is expected to release its full Q2 results on July 28, 2014.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of GT Advanced Technologies GTAT were down 11.56 percent to $17.29 after UBS downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold.

Peabody Energy BTU shares tumbled 2.91 percent to $16.13 after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $23.00 to $19.00.

NQ Mobile NQ shares fell 4.16 percent to $4.38 after tumbling 32.25% on Thursday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.12 percent to $103.93, while gold traded down 0.35 percent to $1,316.00.

Silver traded down 0.60 percent Monday to $21.01, while copper fell 0.49 percent to $3.26.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today.

The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.66 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.87 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.65 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.56 percent and the French CAC 40 fell 0.99 percent while UK shares tumbled 0.49 percent.

Economics

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills.